Does three weeks seem like a long time? Probably
so, if Christmas is near or you will be leaving on an exciting vacation. If you were told that your daughter had three
weeks to live, time would certainly be very short. Even
worse, what if a judge ruled that your daughter would be starved to death beginning in
three weeks? That is the situation faced by
Bob and Mary Schindler as they desperately try to save their daughter Terri from a
terribly painful death by starvation that might take as long as two weeks of agony.
Florida
Judge George Greer continues to push for Terri Schiavo’s murder by judicial homicide. Though the news may have initially sounded good
that on February 25th Judge Greer extended the stay of his order to begin starving Terri
until March 18th, the details revealed the bad news.
Judge Greer stated that there will be no more stays issued by his court. Then on February 28th Greer ruled against hearing
a number of motions entered by the Schindlers’ attorneys. He ruled that he would no longer hear any motions
except those relating to Terri’s care while she was starved to death.
If you have just returned from a long vacation, maybe you are not familiar with
Terri Schiavo. What crime did she commit? How can a court order her to be starved to death? Well, that is how seriously disabled people are
treated when they are not able to communicate like you and I, especially in Judge
Greer’s court, but too often throughout our nation.
If someone is willing to claim that you are in a so-called “persistent
vegetative state”, and it is determined by a court that you do not want to live that
way, then you are guilty of exercising your “right to die”, and the penalty is
death by starvation.
Terri’s
“loving” husband told Judge Greer’s court that he remembered her saying
that she would not want to be kept alive by “artificial” means. Greer considered this verbal testimony, recalled
and presented nearly 8 years after her injury, as more than sufficient evidence that Terri
chose to exercise her “right-to-die”. Now,
if you believe media reports, Michael Schiavo is diligently trying to fulfill
Terri’s wish. In fact, he wants to
murder her by starvation. His attorney and
Judge Greer are willing accomplices in this planned judicial homicide.
Is
there any hope? The Florida Department of
Children & Families has started an investigation into allegations that Terri Schiavo
was abused or mistreated. The agency
wants 60 days to conduct this investigation, but for now, Judge Greer only gave them three
weeks. The allegation does not name a
person responsible for the abuses, though Terri's truly estranged husband Michael has been
accused of abusing her before her collapse 15 years ago.
There is hope if this investigation will lead to removal of Michael Schiavo as
Terri’s guardian.
The
other hope would be action by the Florida legislature to require that a person’s
“right-to-die” can only be considered valid if found in writing once they are
unable to communicate their wishes directly. Such
a law should force Judge Greer to rescind his starvation order because only verbal
evidence from Michael was presented. Another
possible legislative approach would be a law that requires unfaithful spouses to give up
guardianship. Since Michael has been living
with another women and fathered two children with her, such a law could be used to remove
him as guardian so her truly loving parents could provide a real guardian rather than an
executioner. In either case, it is likely
that such laws would be challenged and initially ruled unconstitutional for more unfounded
and unjust reasons. Would a just decision
ever be rendered? Pray for one!